Nihon Vogue - Raglan

Here is another completed work from the Nihon Vogue class. It was the first project that we started at our first class in June 2007. It is a Raglan style sweater that was knit from the top down. Every other sweater I have ever made was knit from the bottom up so knitting from the neck down was new adventure. I used a Cascade Yarn called Pastaza which is a half wool, half llama blend. I am not fond of the color brown but for some strange reason I still can't fathom, the cozy yarn 'called' to me when I stumbled upon it at Cultured Purls in Issaquah. Like all of the other Nihon Vogue assignments, this project one was a self designed pattern - all calculations and no pattern drafting. Even after double checking my calculations I did find that the sleeves from the elbow down to the wrist were more snug than I would have liked. So... after much consternation I ripped back each sleeve, added a more comfortable amount of ease and then knit back down to the wrist. Jean showed us an invisible bind off which was very confusing at first. After ripping out the entire bottom edge of the sweater I finally got it right the second time around. It has ended up being a time consuming but quite satisfactoy edging and the more I do it, the more I am pleased with the end result. We didn't learn some of the final techniques needed to complete the sweater until November so it was quite odd to have a work in progress on needles for 6 months! I've worn the sweater quite a bit already - it was toasty warm when Rob and I were in New York City during frigid January.